Icons of Shasta, Buddha and Ayyappa: Paradigms of Paradoxical Identifications and Sectarian Associations Ajit Kumar1 1. Department of Archaeology, University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala – 695581, India (Email:
[email protected]) Received: 18 August 2019; Revised: 28 September 2019; Accepted: 25 October 2019 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 7 (2019): 233-251 Abstract: Icons of Shasta, Ayyappa and Buddha are found from ancient Tamilakam (Kerala and Tamil Nadu) in large numbers. Religious biases, beliefs, and ignorance of iconography have often resulted in the paradoxical identification and divergent sectarian association of these divinities and their icons. This paper attempts a reappraisal of images of Shasta, Buddha and Ayyappa with a view to dissect and present their individualistic iconographic temperaments. Keywords: Shasta, Ayyappa, Buddha, Icons, Mural Paintings, Sabarimala Temple, Kerala Introduction Shasta etymologically means ‘a ruler or guardian of a country or land.’ Shasta, as a deity, is not found referred to in any early Sanskrit texts (Rao 1914: 485). He was a minor deity in Tamilakam and finds mention in Devaram hymns dating to 6th-7th CE (Sarkar 1978: 109). Seated idols of Shasta, without consorts and elephant dating to as early as the 8th -9th century CE, are found from the premises of a few temples in Kerala (Sarkar: 108-111). Later, texts like Sri Bhagavatam, Amsumadhbhedagama, and Suprabhedagama cites Shasta as Hariharaputra, a progeny of Shiva and Vishnu. Buddha idols contemporaneous to Shasta idols found from Kerala are seated in Padmasana and Dhyana mudra. Shasta and Buddha idols have no iconographic or stylistic similarity with each other though Amarakosha assigns the name Shasta to Buddha as a synonym (Kumar 2019a: 51-58).